Many database systems allow administrators or other authorized users to restore the database in the event of a database crash or other error. For example, in the event of a crash, the last known good version of the database may be retrieved and brought up to date to the time of the crash using data from a data log.
Database systems may also allow administrators or other authorized users to reset the database to an older state. Generally, such resets require that data be retrieved from an external backup of the database. For example, if the data volumes storing the database are backed up daily, an administrator may be able to reset the database to the previous day's state by retrieving the backup data from the previous day. Such backup techniques are desirable for many purposes, and ensure that data is recoverable in the event of catastrophic system errors.
However, in some situations, an administrator or other user may wish to more frequently restart a database in an earlier known state. In such situations, the use of existing techniques would decrease the availability of the database system and require valuable time, hardware and other resources. It would be desirable to provide improved systems and methods for restarting databases in an known earlier state.